Factor XIII, Clinical and Laboratory Aspects
FXIII is an enzyme that plays an important role in blood clot stability and wound healing. A deficiency in these functions rarely occurs but if it does it can cause a severe bleeding tendency. Recent progress in assay methods and clinical studies is of great value in evaluating the therapeutic potential of factor XIII.
The first section focuses on the clinical aspects and gives a short overview regarding the role of Factor XIII in fibrin clot formation, focusses on the clinical symptoms with inherited FXIII deficiency, important findings are summarised and a current view on the role of FXIII in thrombotic diseases is presented.
The second part with a focus on the laboratory aspects, contains information about the genetic background of FXIII deficiencies, antibodies against Factor XIII subunits, the laboratory diagnosis of inherited FXIII deficiencies and the measurement of FXIII activity and antigen level.
The last contribution gives an overview of the results of the ECAT external quality assessment programme for FXIII.